Zac in NC

I just picked up two M beccarii from our local Home Depot. They were 1 gallon plants, for 7.98 each. They also had High Color Mini, Dwarf Cavendish, zebrina and the beccariis. I went for the rare one. They were grown by Carolina Nursery INC, from Moncks Corner, SC. Check out your local HD's for finds like this. This is the same one I have bought basjoo from in the past. Anyone growing this one? One of the plants is going to Gabe, because I know he's killed 2 of them ( so he can kill it a third time hahaha) and plus, if mine dies, I know where I can get more pups.

Zac

bigdog

Nice find, Zac! I think that you will find, however, that musa becarrii will be strictly a container banana for you. It is not even the slightest bit cold-hardy. It start to die back to the ground when temps dip below 40F! Mine never made it through the winter in my garage (but it was small). Eric in Orlando has a clump of it at Leu Gardens, and he said they die back to the ground there, even though they didn't get a frost last year. A shame too, because it is a very ornamental banana.

By the way, did you know that you could edit your posts on this forum? Just FYI...I saw that you added 2 bananas to your list on another post.

Zac in NC

Yeah I know how to edit posts, but I just felt like quoting myself. I know this is a containerized banana. I know it only gets 5 to 6 feet or so, so its manageable to bring it in. I was just shocked to find it here in Central NC, so far away from the tropics ( and at a big Box store too) and I was like, "Whoa". I called Gabe immediately after I got out of the store. They still had a few left labeled as beccarii.

Zac

Carolina

From what I understand, places like Lowes, HD, Walmart, etc. has all their plant ordering done by a REGIONAL manager, rather than the in store manager. If this is so, then that could be why we never have bananas, palms, and the like around here, which totally sucks! I end up going to the more expensive garden shops.

tlturbo

You guys are lucky. Here in FL most of the HD's and Lowes get their plants from massive nurseries and trying to find someting neat is tough. Most items are just labeled "Assort Tropical Foliage" BIG help, huh? I hate it when I find something neat and can't find anyone who knows what the hell it is. And half the time stuff that I know is totally mislabeled.

And I can't understand shy they sell Basjoo here in S FL . Prople buy it expecting fruit.

Waiting in Ernesto -

Terry

BobbyinNY

That's really interesting, guys.... becuase up here on Long Island, the HD & LOWES sells a ton of palms & bananas... go figure... we're even further from the tropics... I find Adonidias, Dypsis, Sagos, Phoenix species, all types of bananas.. from: Orinoco, rajapuri, Cavendish, etc...

Zacarias

Zac without an H,

Guess what, I live in north Seattle, WA and a local grocery store was selling 12"-18" musa beccariis and I was like woah! Since I'm a total newbie..I had to look them up. I did buy two of them of course but just amazed that they didn't have any hardier ones up here for sale. I will overwinter them and then plant them in spring and outside just for kicks.

Zach

Zac in NC

Z with the H,

Yeah I had to buy them too. I dumped them out of the soil they were in ( it was crap) and bare rooted them, then I potted them up into a 2 gallon with nice Miracle-Gro soil and it looks much happier now. Good luck with yours.

Zac

Eric-Orlando,FL

Like Bigdog mentioned, they seem to be very tender, at least the foliage and stems. We have them here at Leu Gardens in Orlando and the dieback/go dormant almost every year once it gets below 40F. They are under shade canopy and in a very protected location so they never get frost. Maybe they are root hardy but they are also the last banana to really get growing in spring even though it starts getting hot here in late March/early April. They also flower late in the year, late Oct. and Nov. But the fruit never ripens (for seeds) as it cools down mid to late Dec.

Here are a couple of photos from last year, they have yet to flower this year;

http://pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/leu451...49.jpg&.src=ph

http://pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/leu451...e2.jpg&.src=ph

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Eric
Orlando,FL z9b/10a

Zac in NC

Thanks Eric. I know Gabe had mentioned the 40 degree thing to me from your experiences. Could you get some close-ups of the petioles on some of the younger stems? IF you can't thats fine. Gabe and I were just wondering if this is really beccarii or not.

Zac

Gabe15

Zac, after looking at a descriptor list Im not so sure its M. beccarii, appears Eumusa to me, ie...M. basjoo???

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Growing bananas in Colorado, Washington, Hawaii since 2004. Commercial banana farmer, 200+ varieties.

jewelbaby1224

Woohoo! It made your day!! What the big box stores carry just doesn't make much sense does it?? And usually the plants are lucky if 50% of them make it.

I was stunned to find my first 2 Orinoco's at Lowe's on close out $9 each. They weren't any there the week before. These were in 5 gal pots, 7' tall. But I still got them in my Nissan Xterra. These are my first bought ones as my house came with "mystery" bananas.

I agree about going to real nurseries where people know what they are doing. I'll have to start exploring tropical nurseries in the Houston area.

Hey! We're driving to Niagra Falls in October for vacation, maybe we can find bananas in New York!

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WHEREVER YOU GO, BRING YOUR OWN SUNSHINE....

Zac in NC

Dangit Gabe. Well, I guess I'll have to keep it alive and see how it turns out( when and if it blooms) I would say lets see how it takes cold, but I don't want to do that quite yet.

Zac